DarkForceKli

besides, a party without mages has a lot of weaknesses. not many people can fuse together something that can cast reflect, shell, and a bunch of other spells. it might be fun to have a totally melee party, but it can be costly

I have never liked a lot of magic. I like it when magic is still mystical instead of every other soul being able to cast spells. Spells, to me, turns a game into a game of mechanics instead of concentrating on the story, plot, and character development.

yes, magic can just get in the way of most campaigns. Usually the mages start getting out of control with their spells, and then you have melee people dieing (sp?) every round because they have to be up close and personal with monsters powerful enough for the stupid mages that hide in corners and cast spell after spell.

Quote from: "DarkForceKli"

besides, a party without mages has a lot of weaknesses. not many people can fuse together something that can cast reflect, shell, and a bunch of other spells. it might be fun to have a totally melee party, but it can be costly

That is the exact reason I don't like mages the most. Without these things people have to be careful with their resources, think every action through, and actually make sacrifices when they use items of any kind. With a mage who cares how many times you do things or how stupid they are? You have a mage to take care of you, and the game becomes pure magic battles instead of any storyline whatsoever.

also for more magic stuff, the 'Spice up your magic' in essays, grouped tips, etc also has some good ideas of magic. mage/magic oriented people should check them out. Although i like to see some awesome magic executed and kick some enemy's ass, i also like to use melee and melee skills to do devastating damage. Mostly, i like to play with mages and melee combined, but it can be nice to play with only melee too.

3 off the top of my head. None lethal, nor directly dangerous in any way, but all extremely valuable. Web restricts/slows movement allowing more time to think tactics, or even use a projectile to attack the foe. Confusion can cause foes to attack their own allies, thinning out the opposition and making another easy target. And all people rely too much on their sense of sight, cut it off and they'll flail around aimlessly, creating a hazard for themselves and their teammates.

I'm not even sure why I posted this in here just then, apart from the fact I am defending the one thing which most of my ideas come from: magic.

Personally, I dislike 'uber-magic' type things, anyway. Fireball, meteor and what-have-you. Such things require no tactics apart from aiming, and perhaps making sure you don't have splash damage to injure yourself. A world with little offensive magic, but rather passive/tactical magic would be quite enjoyable.

yes, defensive magic can become really handy in bad situations, especially when you run into something that you weren't planning for.

For me, i like to use offensive magic as much as i like to use defensive. i mainly use offensive in a dire situation when i need to end it quickly, or if the enemy has a major weakness to a certain element. Defensive is great for when the party runs into some big thing that likes to give out hard hits. But more than offensive magic, i prefer to use melee skills and attacks. melee + defensive magic can be an awesome combo, and one that i like to use in most situations.

But mostly you are correct, shadow, and i can't argue with you on the point that little offensive and more tactical magic is fun.

Anything can be an offensive measure if used properly. Right now I'm playing a character that knows no magic but some seemingly useless cantrip type things. I enjoy the challenge of using these effectively as offensive spells.

I don't know...is a fireball mystical? or is it just some ordinary thing with no significance?

The way you use the spell depends if it is "mysterious" or difficult. "Mysterious" magic can be like communicating with some undead reaper that you need to pass to get to the final point of some mission. Difficult can be focusing the magic to lift some enormous object out of the path and chuck it aside the road.

In other words, the description of magic comes from the way that it is used.

I'm not trying to tell you, in a lot of words, that you are wrong, i was just stating an idea. Everyone has a different point of view on magic(for you mystical and mysterious and me cool and fun), and it's good that everyone has a different POV on it. If every outlook on magic was the same, it might make people focus only on one part of magic and not allow diversity into the game.

Magic will truly be fun if you use the magic that you like to use and the way you like to use it. If you do this, magic will add a fun touch to the game. If not, magic can become utterly boring and unwanted.

Though I am inclined to agree with your POV on Magic. In my opinion in many games that share the view piont of using magic whenever they become extremely boring instead of interesting. where as if it is found found far and few between it posses that mysterious allure, and it doesn't become a crutch for brains!

Look, as you all know, i am a strict believer of magic. My previous post was deleted for reasons that will remain annonymous, But I'm going to have to ask you that if you are going to dis magic, than please do it else where. That way, i won't have to go medieval on all you alls.

I think I've figured it out. It isn't magic we object to (or at least me), it's the overuse of magic and the way using magic is handled in RPGs that we object to. To my mind at least, magic should be some mysterious, but d**n impressive force that's reletively rare. If there's too much of it, it's no where near as impressive. Walking out of a magical portal is only impressive the first forty times. If magic is overused, or handled badly (which remains my complaint with magic in RPGs) or both, it's not impressive any more. I mean, really, is any one REALLY impressed by something like "I cast Fireball!" If I recall correctly, the Magic Missle spell of D&D is so overused it's become a joke. That's not right.

I try to avoid the use of conventional magic at all, anyway. I always attempt to twist it in some way or another - Such as me mage Tarquin, who warps all his spells so they cause peculiar effects. And the ghost in my Revenant ring which infuses all spells with 'spirit magic'.

To me, magic should not be something which people can fling around. It takes great stamina to cast, and so the spells must be chosen carefully to avoid exhaustion early in the RP.

Ria did an excellent job of portraying the message that we were trying to get across! I enjoy a RPG that contains magic, But it is commonly overused and it becomes an escape to every problem which makes the game become predictable and boring! Magic is good if it is used resposibly.